Originally published 2019 · Written by YSS Founder Hayley Winter

Editor's Note | Looking Back from 2026

When I first wrote this article in January 2019, online yoga education was still finding its feet.

Little did any of us know that just over a year later, a global pandemic would close yoga studios, universities, gyms and training centers around the world. Teachers who had spent their careers working face-to-face suddenly had to learn how to teach through a screen.

For us at the Institute of Yoga Sports Science® (YSS), the situation was different.

We had already been teaching online for more than a decade.

And the journey that got us there began with another global crisis.

How it all began 

Teaching a sports-specific yoga session at Ipswich Town FC, UK, 2001

My interest in yoga for athletes began long before online education became part of the picture.

From around 2000, I had been exploring a hypothesis: could yoga be adapted specifically to support athletic performance?

Originally published in 2018 · Written by Hayley Winter, Founder of the Institute of Yoga Sports Science®

Editor's Note | Looking Back from 2026

My interest in esports has a personal connection that goes back long before I founded the Institute of Yoga Sports Science®.

My first degree was in animation, and my background in graphic design and character animation taught me to study human movement in a rather unusual way: frame by frame.

Through drawing, observing and analysing the body in motion, I developed a fascination with how movement is organised. That curiosity continued into my later studies of anatomy, biomechanics and yoga.

I also worked in games education, teaching anatomy and character design on a course run by a dear friend and colleague. At the time this article was published in 2018, she was CEO of Women in Games, a position she continues to hold in 2026.

Looking back, this article reflects another connection between my creative background and the development of Yoga...

Originally published 2017 · Written by YSS Founder, Hayley Winter

Editor's Note | Looking Back from 2026

When I wrote this article in 2017, I had no idea how much further the Yoga Sports Science® journey would take me.

Since then, my work has received recognition by the Olympic Channel, and I've been invited to contribute to the Yoga Alliance's Online Standards Committee.

Yet this moment with the British Wheel of Yoga remains particularly special. It brings me back to where my teaching journey began and to the wonderful teacher, Mikki Marks, who first encouraged me to teach.

I remember the day I decided to do my yoga teacher training with the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY).

I was rolling up my mat at the end of a practice when my wonderful teacher, Mikki Marks, asked me if I felt ready to teach.

I had been practising with Mikki for several years and greatly admired her. She had been a long-time member of the British Wheel of Yoga and was highly respected within the organisation...